4th August 2020

 Musings.......

Freedom Fighters - Part 4 

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 

Born Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad, he was commonly known as Maulana Azad. 

Maulana is a word meaning ‘Our Master’ and he adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name.  

Maulana Azad Born in 1888 was a scholar, Islamic theologian, and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress during India’s Independence Movement. 

As a young man Maulana Azad wrote poems in Urdu. He rose to prominence through his work as a journalist, publisher who wrote criticising the British Raj and supporting the Nationalistic cause. 

Maulana Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement when he became close to Mahatma Gandhi. He became a supporter of Gandhijis non violent civil disobedience and worked to organise the Non cooperation movement (NCM) in protest of Rowlatt Act in 1919. 

He was committed to promoting Swadeshi products and for the cause of Swaraj (Self Rule) for India. 

In 1923 at the age of 35 years Maulana Azad became the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress.  

Maulana Azad was one of the founding members of the Jamia Milia Islamia initially in Aligarh and played an instrumental role in shifting the University to New Delhi in 1934. 

Maulana Azad always stood for Hindu- Muslim unity which was best exemplified during the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931, of which he was one of the main organisers. 

Maulana Azad always stood for Hindu- Muslim unity, secularism and socialism of the Indian National Congress. 

He served as the Congress President again from 1940 - 1945 during which time he along with most Congress leaders were arrested and put to jail in connection with the Quit India Rebellion.  

Maulana Azad criticised those who focused on communal issues instead of national interests and rejected the Communal Seperatism of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. 

He started a Urdu weekly newspaper Al- Hilal in 1912 where he openleg attacked British policies. In 1913 he was a founding member of Anjuman-I-Ulama-I-Bangala which later became the Jamait Ulema-e-Hind in 1921. 

He worked tirelessly for Hindu-Muslim unity during the Bengal partition of 1905 and was one of few Muslim leaders opposing the partition. He also opposed the issue of seperate communal electorates. 

In 1914, Al- Hilal was banned by the British. Maulana Azad started the Al- Balagh which increased support for communal unity.  Azad supported the Khilafat movement and his popularity grew. As his fame grew the British again banned his second publication Al- Balagh and arrested him.  

Speaking vehemently against Jinnahs Two Nation Theory - the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations- Maulana Azad hit out against religious separatism and called out to all Muslims to preserve a united India, as all Hindus and Muslims were Indians who shared deep bonds of brotherhood and nationhood. 

In his Presidential address, Azad said :-

" Full eleven centuries have passed by since then. Islam has now as great a claim on the soil of India as Hinduism. If Hinduism has been the religion of the people here for several thousands of years, Islam also has been their religion for a thousand years. 

Just as a Hindu can say with pride that he is an Indian and follows Hinduism, so also we can say with equal pride that we are Indians and follow Islam. I shall enlarge this orbit still further. The Indian Christian is equally entitled to say with pride that he is an Indian and is following a religion of India, namely Christianity."  

Amidst hostility from Jinnah and other politicians, who called him names such as ‘Congress Show boy’ and ‘Muslim Lord Haw Haw’ , Maulana Azad continued to proclaim his faith in Hindu- Muslim unity and said - 

"I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality. I am indispensable to this noble edifice and without me this splendid structure is incomplete. I am an essential element, which has gone to build India. I can never surrender this claim."

Maulana Azad was the first Education Minister of Independent India under the Nehru Cabinet until his death in 1958. He was a close confidante of Nehru. 

Jawaharlal Nehru referred to his as Mir-i-Karawan ( the caravan leader ) “ a very brave and galliant gentleman, a finished product of the culture that, in these days, pertains to few.”  

Mahatma Gandhi remarked about him as to being “ a person of the calibre of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras”. 

His birthday 11th November is celebrated as National Education Day in India. 

As we can see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the poster boy of the India that Gandhi and Nehru dreamt of, an India where there is Hindu- Muslim Unity, Secularism and Socialism - three ideals that the great Congressman Maulana Azad stood for throughout his life. 

Food for Thought.......

RC